From my time at Founded I can take away a number of things both positive and negative but ones that stood out to me, I made sure to make a note of. Therefore, the list below documents my learnings while at Founded.
- During second year we were encouraged to think more about product, range and distribution but it wasn't until my time at Founded that made me realise about how important the range of an idea is. Anthony the creative director was tirelessly giving feedback and insight regarding this, and made it clear that a client only sees what is presented to them. Its the designers job to make them look past this, and extend the idea past say a poster and make it into merchandise. This not only benefits the project by extending it but also gives the studio more to work with in terms of outcome and budget.
- When receiving feedback on a small brief I did for The Spanish Gallery which is the largest collection of Spanish art outside of Spain. The team made me think through the clients eye, and that clients cant relate to the same styles and tastes as you. Therefore, its key to present the idea first rather than the style. Clients can easily reject a style but struggle to reject an idea as they can relate the to core of an idea rather than a style.
- Being in the working environment I got to experience the politics of the design industry and the competitiveness of it. For example, the studio manager explained to me one of the reasons the studio decides to keep a low profile. Although they intend to update the site with work as it been a while since they have. They are reluctant to do so though, as in the past they've found other studios approaching Founded's clients due to the new work being considered 'good'. I was surprised by this as I think if the work is considered 'good' by the client and Founded, then other studios approaching the client shouldn't stand a chance. However, the studio manager made it clear it happens too often and instead Founded prefer to keep work under wraps.
- Other little things regarding the politics of the design industry were offering brand guidelines to clients as a mechanism to ward other studios and agencies away from the client. The guidelines act as a authorship for studios and give trust between the two parties involved.
I can document plenty more things I learnt but I feel putting the new ways of thinking and doing into action would be more beneficiary to PPP. But to conclude on my time at Founded with talking about the one project I enjoyed the most which was an identity for YSP's new restaurant opening in June. To briefly sum what YSP were after was a sub brand to distinguish the new and more classier restaurant to the other food and drink options at the park. The restaurant will be located in a new gallery which is on site of a former sandstone quarry and YSP plan to have a Nordic and natural aesthetic throughout the restaurant. Therefore, it was my job to create a sub brand that aligned with YSP yet had its own identity and meaning. My responses look into the sandstone quarry, the topography of the area and Nordic colour palettes. I was told to get the raw idea down then apply it to as many outcomes to test the strength and range of the idea, and from this testing the idea impressed the team enough for them to package my idea and set it off to YSP for feedback. Some of the research and outcomes can be seen below.
The guys at Founded felt I did well in my two weeks and ticked the biggest box of simply fitting in well with the team. They encouraged me to stay in touch and if I ever need any help/guidance/feedback than they are more than happy to help. We also discussed my future and where I see myself upon graduating, they informed me that at this moment in time if they were to hire then it'd be a senior designer but that if a junior role ever came up then i'd be up for consideration. They also encouraged me to maybe stay in Leeds after graduation as more opportunities are arising in Leeds to say Newcastle.
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